


Apocalyptic Dreams 2: Cataclysmic Events

by AnthemGlass



Series: Starshot: A Space Opera [5]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, M/M, Star Trek-ish, Too many players to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-11 17:01:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1175578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnthemGlass/pseuds/AnthemGlass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three members of the USS Saariaho are tapped to fly a transport ship to the dark reaches of space to follow the newly rogue USS Nelson.</p>
<p>Meanwhile on the ocean planet of Tallis, something unimaginable has happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apocalyptic Dreams 2: Cataclysmic Events

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you still sticking with this series, THANK YOU! Your comments are always appreciated and they always get me excited to write more. This story is absolutely wild and has grown much larger than I'd imagined. I really just have a TON of fun writing it, but I really do appreciate you guys for reading it. 
> 
> So when I started this fic, we were still in the summer following the 2013 season, so many characters have been traded and such. At times I do try and reflect this, while others I just handwavey ignore it and pretend they still play for a certain. Example, Thomas Greiss, I'd already hardcore planned his story arc as a part of the San Jose Sharks, so I just kind of stuck with it. I had fun rolling with the trades though. Some are reflected and they actually made for fun story twists for me to work in.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this one. It's a bit more scattered because I'm following two larger story arcs that I'd planned to write separately. But at the point they coincide it became too hard to work out two separate stories so I meshed it together. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

****

 

Thomas’s hands dance gracefully, arms swinging, body twisting and turning as he grabs different ingredients mixing everything together in a masterful, gourmet meal sized for an army – or at least the forty men and women of the USS Saariaho’s crew.  He’s at home amid his orchestra of ingredients as he conducts with various utensils to produce his symphony of taste.  It’s the closest to music Thomas will ever truly understand.

A hand on his back makes him jump.  He turns quickly to find Lt. Antti Niemi with his palms out in mock surrender.  Thomas had told Niemi that was the best way to get his attention, but no matter what, interruptions during his cooking process always yank him out of ‘the zone.’

Niemi points to the food Thomas is preparing.  Thomas nods and holds up four fingers.  _Four minutes._   Niemi gives him a thumbs up and starts to prepare a tray of food for the captain.

Thomas smiles and returns to the food.  He’s thankful everyday for Niemi.  If it hadn’t been for that man, Thomas would never have been allowed into Icarus Fleet – the only family Thomas has.

-

Survivors thrash in the angry sea as the facility burns on top of the water.  Some scream, some cry.  A few obviously don’t know how to swim.  Chaos.

“SEMYON!”  Gabe screams uselessly.

Flip swims a few feet away from Gabe.  His desperate calls for Semyon sadden Flip and he treads water patiently, waiting for Gabe to accept the fact that his lover is dead.

“Gabe,” a choked voice calls to Gabe’s right.  Only one person in the entire Tallis Penal Colony calls Gabriel Landeskog ‘Gabe’.  He whirls in the water and sees Varly struggling in the ocean. 

“Varly,” Gabe cries out.  “Thank god!”  He swims to his aid.  Helping to steady him in the water and calm his nerves.

“You’re okay!”  Gabe comforts the struggling man.  “Everything’s going to be okay.”

But it wasn’t.  They’d survived the attack, only to live long enough to drown in the unforgiving Tallis Ocean.  There is no one coming.  And even if someone does come... they’d be too late.  They are alone.

-

Antti creeps quietly into Captain Thornton’s chambers, attempting to deliver her food without her noticing.  He hates feeling like he’s intruding on people’s lives.

“Lt. Niemi,” Captain Thornton says curtly as she steps out of the bedroom portion of her chambers.  She pulls on her teal uniform, the same Antti is wearing, and pulls her hair back, expertly fixing it into a bun.  She’s taller than Antti, which is impressive because Antti is over six feet.

“Captain,” Antti bows a bit, placing the tray of food on her desk.

“You know,” she chuckles.  “Convincing Vice Admiral Bylsma and I to allow Recruit Greiss’s enlistment may have been the most wonderful thing you’ve ever done.”

Antti hints at a smile, “Thank you ma’am.”

“Captain,” she responds quickly.  “I prefer ‘Captain’ if you don’t mind.”

Antti flushes red, she’s reminded him of that nearly ten times now.  “Sorry... Captain...”

“Take a breath Lieutenant,” she laughs as she sits down.  “You’re doing a great job.” 

Antti breathes a sigh of relief.  He’s been Chief Steward for two months, replacing Ensign Nabokov.  Antti had nearly been discharged from Icarus Fleet after one too many internal fights with fellow soldiers.  He’d been allowed to stay in the fleet and had been transferred from the USS Glazunov to the USS Saariaho and subsequently demoted to Chief Steward, a position too low for his rank. 

While making a short stop on Earth, Antti had fought for Greiss’s enlistment and won.  That was a month and a half ago.

Without another word Antti leaves the Captain’s chambers and heads back down to the Mess Hall. 

“Antti!”  A voice calls out behind him just before he reaches the Mess Hall.  Antti turns to find Marc-Edouard Vlasic jogging up to him.  “ _Wait!_ ”  He’s switched to Finnish, a trick of a talented tongue, a blessing for a Chief Communications Officer.

“ _You might want to wait. Lieutenant Junior Grade Torres is in there_ ,” Vlasic warns.

Antti scoffs, “ _I can handle myself_.”

“ _That’s what I’m afraid of.  Don’t do anything stupid_ ,” Vlasic punches him in the arm.  Vlasic had been one of Antti’s friends on the ship since before his transfer.  He knows of Antti’s violent past and triggers.  “You sure?”  He switches to English.

Antti rolls his eyes and walks through the sliding doors to the Mess Hall... hungry wolves waiting.

-

“I’m sorry,” Gabe says weakly. 

Semyon huffs, spitting water as he desperately tries to stay afloat.  There’s no telling how long they’ve been stuck in the Tallis Ocean.  A few men have succumbed to injuries or exhaustion, but a good amount are still treading, desperate for some sort of savior from above.

“Later,” Semyon coos.  Gabe seems to want to say more but Semyon has relinquished him from the useless apology he’s trying to dole out.  Semyon knows... he’s always known.

“Tired,” Gabe manages as he bobs in the water.  Semyon tightens his grip and they float for a moment longer.  Semyon keeps his eyes on the sky, for a savior to come from the clouds and rescue these dying men. 

It’s all over.  Semyon feels the burn on his leg cry with the constant contact with salt water.  It’s begun to go in and out of extraordinary pain and numbness.

Semyon places a kiss on Gabe’s hair, the salty water invading his taste. 

It’s enough for both of them to accept their end together.

Wordlessly they allow the water to rush over them and pull them into its dark, unforgiving depths.  Semyon welcomes the end of the pelting rain.  In the dark abyss of the depth of the Tallis Ocean, silence and Gabe are all that matter.  Semyon kisses his young lover, offering him his last breath of air.  Inside Semyon feels his organs contort, his lungs scream for air. 

Two men float, suspended in darkness together.  However suddenly the ocean floor hits them sooner than either thought possible.  It pushes against them sending them skyward.  Impossible!  The sea floor is moving and pushing them to air, it’s saving their lives. 

They explode out of the sea.  Semyon coughs violent, vomiting seawater as he rolls on the new island that has formed beneath him.  Gabe isn’t having as much difficulty thanks to the final breath of air gifted by his lover.  Instead he runs to his aid as the other man writhes on the ground.

“Semyon!”  Gabe croaks, grabbing on to the man. 

Semyon finishes thrashing and his breathing steady.  Exhausted he moves his head to get a look at the island that’s saved them. 

Many of the men are lying like him on the large metal platform that’s raised up from the depths.  A few more who were out of its surface area are frantically swimming to get on it.

Gabe follows Semyon’s gaze and stands up, staring in awe.  It’s a giant metal structure that has broken through the waves. 

“What the...” Gabe starts but is interrupted by a hatch opening nearby.  The mix of prison guards and inmates stare at the opening with bated breath.  “Someone’s coming!”

-

Thomas serves the long line of crewmembers.  Normally Antti would be helping him, but he’d started early.  The crewmembers that don’t know talk to him, and he just smiles and nods back, those that do know about Thomas always offer reassuring smiles, sometimes on the borderline of pity.  It doesn’t bother Thomas, he doesn’t feel bad for himself.

LTJG Torres comes up the line and says something to Thomas while wearing a large toothy grin.  A few guys around him smile.  Thomas smiles back and serves him a bit extra.  Torres is a big guy and he needs the fuel.  The guys laugh and Thomas assumes it’s because they noticed he gave him an extra helping.  Antti is frozen behind Torres, a murderous glare trained at the back of his head.  Thomas frowns a bit.  That’s strange.

-

Antti heads to help Thomas while Vlasic gets in line, excited for Greiss’s cooking.  He pauses as he hears LTJG Torres teasing Thomas.  “Hey Greiss, smile and don’t say anything if you like fat cocks shoved up your ass.”

Antti manages a brief moment of holy intervention, as he’s able to stamp down his rage and walk away from the food line.  It’s the first time Antti ever shown any sort of self-control and he knows that it’s probably due to the fact that he doesn’t want Thomas seeing the real Antti Niemi... the violent one.  Antti chooses to not think about what that says about his feelings for the young man.

LTJG Torres and his goons have made their way back to the tables and begun eating.  Antti is about to join Thomas behind the serving line to help, but he halts as he hears Torres say, “Deaf and dumb, that fucker’s got no business on this ship, even if he’s just a cook.”

That’s it.  Antti feels the rage like bile building in his chest.  He turns quickly and walks up to Torres’s table near the serving line.  Thomas had given Torres an extra serving of the hot chunky soup, which only made Antti’s victory sweeter as he grabbed the tray of food and quickly up-ended it, covering Torres in food and staining his pristine teal uniform.

“What the fuck?!”  Torres bellows, jumping up from the table.

“Shut your fucking mouth about Thomas,” Antti snarls.  Antti is impressed with himself, Torres is downright scary, especially now that he’s pissed and looking at Antti like he’s going to crush his head.

“Thomas?”  Torres almost laughs.  “You mean Recruit Greiss?  So I take it it’s your cock that’s been up his ass?”

-

Thomas looks up in time to see Antti hurl himself at Torres, fists flying.  Antti stands no chance against a beast like Torres.  So Thomas jumps from behind the line and sprints up to the brawl ensuing and grabs at Antti to pull him away.  A few of Torres’s buddies pull him off but Antti is jumping, asking for more fight, even as a trickle of blood leaks from his lips.  Thomas holds on tight, hoping that it’ll be enough to keep Antti from doing anything else extraordinarily stupid.

Antti actually tries to attack again, nearly freeing himself from Thomas’s tight grasp, but soon Lt. Vlasic joins Thomas in holding Antti back and finally the angry Finn calms down enough to be escorted out of the mess hall into to the sick bay.

-

_3 Years Ago_

“I’m Dan Potash, and on today’s show we’ll be discussing Gabriel Landeskog.  Gabriel Landeskog is on trial for the murder of his entire family.  Included in the list of victims are his mother and father, sister, and his brother-in-law.  The young man’s trial has been a sensation, the visceral murder capturing the attention of the media and the decision of charging the 17-year-old as an adult angering many human rights groups.

“Gabriel Landeskog was a celebrated student and athlete at his preparatory school.  His professors all expressed how wonderful a student he was.  It was expected that he’d enter Icarus Fleet Marine Corps training.  Recently it was released that he’d already been considered for IF Special Forces.

“Some have called it the murder of the decade.  A recreation expert has laid out how the night went down.”

_Landeskog, living with his parents for the winter recess, crept up the stairs in the early evening.  Using a large blade he beheaded his father before torturing his mother.  She died from blood loss later in the evening._

_Landeskog’s sister and husband, visiting for the holidays, were on a date and had yet to return home.  It’s postulated that Landeskog spent hours torturing his mother with the single, rusty blade._

_Later that evening his sister and her husband returned home.  Landeskog fired three bullets into his brother-in-law’s temple before slitting his sister’s wrists and watching her bleed out._

-

“Get off,” Antti swats at the young Chief Medical Officer as the poor man tries to patch up one of the two bad cuts on Antti’s eyebrow.

“I just...” Lt. Wingels tries again before Antti pushes him away again.

A hand falls on Antti’s shoulder and squeezes a warning.  Antti turns to se that Thomas has come to check on him.  Thomas gives him a stern look to let Wingels do his job... that is to say as stern as Thomas’s sweet face can manage. 

Antti sighs, “Fine.” 

“Thank you,” Wingels says more to Thomas than to Antti as he finishes patching up the young cook.

Torres is being patched up in another room by one of Wingels’s young medical technicians, Rec. Hertl.  They can’t be trusted in the same room together, apparently.

“Lt. Niemi!”  A deep voice bellows causing Wingels and Niemi to shoot to attention immediately.  Thomas sees the movement and reacts quickly.  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

Antti steels himself as Commander Marleau lays into him.  “We have given you so many chances and you just squander every single one.  You are a _fucking_ _DISGRACE!_ ”

Antti winces.  Even Wingels winces, and he’s not even being yelled at.  All three men are still at attention as Marleau throws a fit, tossing supplies and various things around the medical bay.  Such an outburst from their usually calm commander is actually pretty terrifying.

“The Captain wants to see you,” Marleau mumbles as he finally comes down from his tirade.  “Dismissed!”

“Yes Commander,” Antti blurts as he quickly jets out of the medical bay and heads towards an uncertain meeting with Thornton.

-

Vlasic rolls his eyes. _Fucking great_.

He’d watched Antti lose it and attack Torres, just like he’d guessed he would. And now Lt. Commander Boyle tells him that the Captain wants to see him.  He hates being Antti’s babysitter.

“Oh shit!”  Helmsman Pavelski teases at the dinner table.  “Good luck buddy.”

By the time Vlasic gets to the Captain’s chambers, Antti is already there.

“Lt. Vlasic, good you’re here,” Thornton remarks in her usual cold tone.

“Yes m...” Vlasic swallows the _ma’am_ with an awkward “m-captain.”

She pauses, making Vlasic blush at his misstep before she cracks and her lips turn to the slightest smirk.  “How capable is your Junior Communications Officer?”

Vlasic, still at attention shifts slightly, thrown by the question. He’s honestly afraid she’s going to throw him off the ship.  But he answers truthfully anyway, “Braun?  Very.”

“Good,” Thornton nods.  “At ease gentlemen.”  Both Antti and Vlasic fall out of attention in unison.  “I’ve marked you three for a special mission.”

Vlasic can’t help but shoot Antti a confused glance.  What kind of special mission involves a cook?  Then again, Vlasic knows that Antti was more than that when he was on the USS Glazunov.

“I’ve chosen you three because I’m confident in your judgment and trust that you’ll maintain your allegiance to this ship and my captaincy,” she cocks an eyebrow.  “Is that accurate?”

“Yes Captain,” Antti and Vlasic respond in unison.  Vlasic swallows questioning why she said “three”.

“Good.  Because you’re about to go rogue,” Thornton says, as if she’s ordered them to do some menial routine task.  “The USS Nelson is about to split from Icarus Fleet.  I have it on good authority that the fleet has been compromised and the only way to keep everything from going to shit is for the Nelson to go rogue.  I want you to take a small vessel and ‘search them down.’”  She says with air quotes.  “Do we have an understanding?”

Both men nod, though unsure.

“Niemi, you will go aboard the Nelson and relay this information.  Then the three of you will take one of the armed transport ships.  I will give you specific orders once you’re space bound.”

“I’m sorry Captain,” Vlasic interrupts.  “You said three?”

Just then the door to Thornton’s office opens.  She nods to the newcomer.  “Yes, three.”

Vlasic feels his stomach drop.  Torres is the third.

-

Semyon shoots up from unconsciousness.  He remembers the sea floor rising.  He remembers the hatch opening.  He remembers a shadowy figure, and then exhaustion must have claimed him because he blacked out.

He looks around the small but warm room, it has a pale orange-yellow hue with large ovular windows looking out onto a dark blue seascape.  Impossible.  They are underwater!

Semyon throws his legs over the edge of the bed and places his bare feet on the smooth floor, which feels metallic and organic at the same time.  He flexes his toes, testing the floor’s new material.  He pushes himself off the bed and walks to what he assumes is the door.  There’s no handle or keypad, so he tries pushing, but the large purple entryway is shut tight.

“Hey!”  Semyon calls out.  “Someone there?”  His voice sounds like the wall’s foreign materials swallow the call.  It makes him feel utterly alone.

-

“Shoot him!”  A man screams.  Gabe is staring down the barrel of a blaster aimed at his head.  The young man holding the blaster looks nervous but the man behind him, the screaming one, seems hell bent on killing Gabe and he clearly wants the younger man to do it.  “I said shoot him.”

“What the fuck?”  Gabe manages before the young man fires.  A piercing pain flares and Gabe falls to the ground.

Gabe shoots up from a foreign bed... tricked by his vivid dream.

“Oh...” He says to no one.  If his previous track record is to be believed, that dream is going to happen.  “That’s not good.”

The odd purple door to Gabe’s room opens with a silent swish and the young man from his vision enters.  Gabe pushes back, pressing his spine flush with the wall behind him in fear.

“I’m Bobby,” the young man says.  As he speaks, a set of gills on either side of his neck flare a bit.  As Gabe remembers back to his vision, the screaming man had them too.

“Hi,” Gabe replies carefully.

“Food?”  Bobby sets a tray on the end of Gabe’s bed.

“Where am I?”  Gabe presses, ignoring the hunger pang in his stomach for the more important information.

“Tallis,” Bobby replies curtly.

“Impossible,” Gabe shakes his head.  “The only structure on Tallis is the Penal Colony, and that thing went up in flames.”

Bobby smirks.  “It’s the only structure on the surface.”  He points to a window to Gabe’s right.  He stares dumbfounded at the ocean.  They are at the bottom of the ocean.  _Fuck._

-

“Let’s just get through this,” Vlasic says to Torres and Antti as they take off from the USS Saariaho in its newest transport vessel.  It’s completely armed to the gills despite seeming like a simple transport vessel.

Both Torres and Antti look like they’re going to kill each other and Vlasic hates that he’s going to be moderating the two of them for the entire mission.

“They went into the Gamma Sector,” Captain Thornton says through a communicator.  “Follow them into the sector, but stay on the outskirts.  I don’t want you all running into any rogue ships.  Godspeed men.”  The transmission cuts out and the three of them are alone.

Vlasic rubs his head.  Could this get any worse?  Rogue Empire, Torres, Niemi, and the USS Nelson.  What else could possibly make this any crazier?

A thump in one of the storage compartments silences everyone.  Torres holds Vlasic and Niemi back as he pulls his blaster out of its holster.  It’d been made clear to the three men what each of their responsibilities would be.  Antti Niemi’s experience with flight and navigation made him the helmsman.  Vlasic’s talented tongue would make him principle communicator and arbitrator in the unfortunate event of running into an unexpected ship.  And Torres (apart from the obvious engineering skills for ship maintenance) was the brawn, his hand-to-hand combat and blaster rifle skills made him the clear choice for the fists of the operation.

Torres slowly approaches the overhead compartment, which he knows is both empty and large enough to fit a body.  He aims his gun in his right hand before using his left to release the compartment door.

A body comes falling out and smacks into the metal grate on the floor of the ship.  The body then scrambles backwards, freezing only at the sight of the gun. 

“MOTHER FUCKER!”  Torres spits as he holsters his gun.

“Thomas!”  Antti exclaims as he stares at the young and scared recruit.

Thomas returns the gaze with an apologetic expression.  He’d stowed away on their ship.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Torres shakes his head. 

“We can’t go back,” Vlasic points out.  “It’s too late, and we’ve already broken contact with the Saariaho until our next check in.”

Antti kneels next to Thomas and inspects him for any cuts and bruises from the fall but Thomas tries to shake off the probing touches.

“Great,” Torres kicks a wall.  “Just fucking great.  Now we got two lovebirds that’re gonna fuck up the whole mission.”

Antti suppresses his anger.  “It’ll be fine,” he lies.

-

Semyon is not crazy.  The man who delivers his food has gills.  He knows it.  The first time he’d thought his eyes had been playing tricks on him, but a second and third time seeing the man had confirmed the impossible.

After what had likely been a full day in his room, two armed men come to retrieve Semyon.  They both have gills too.

“Come with us,” one mutters.  The other is resolutely silent.  Semyon misses the nice guy that delivered his food. But Semyon follows regardless, figuring he really doesn’t have a choice.

The hallway outside of Semyon’s room is littered with the dark purple doors.  The yellow hue is darker than it had been in the room and there aren’t any windows out onto the ocean.  The two guards march in front of him as he follows cautiously.

One of the purple doors to Semyon’s left opens briefly.  He sees a gilled doctor injecting McLeod with something.  Semyon feels happy that McLeod made it out, but he can’t help but wonder what he’s being injected with.  The nurse that had inadvertently opened the door lunges to close it before Semyon can see anymore.

“Where are you taking me?”  Semyon halts.

One of the guards grunts.  “Stop asking questions and move!”  He positions himself behind Semyon and urges him along with the butt of his rifle.

Semyon continues to march.  “I just...” he gets cut off by a strange siren, wailing and almost sorrowful.  The guards turn quickly.  The one in front of Semyon falls, a steaming hole in his head.  Without thinking Semyon reaches behind himself and pulls the guard behind him down to the ground and lands his foot on the guard’s gilled neck.

The guard gurgles in pain before the mysterious assailant shoots his head.

Semyon whirls around to face his hero.

“Varly,” Fisher grins, his Hollywood smile flashing white.  “Well am I glad to see you.”  His voice has a bit of a twang to it.

Semyon grabs for one of the guards rifles and aims it at Fisher.

“Varly,” Fisher holds his gun up in surrender.  “The way I see it is when that structure blew and we got taken by these fish men, we joined teams.”

Semyon nods, not wanting to stay exposed in the hall much longer.  He grabs the other rifle and hangs it off his back.  “Where are we going?”

Fisher’s smile widens.  “Don’t worry baby, I got a plan.”

-

“Antti...” Vlasic sighs.

“Hold on a minute,” Antti rubs his head in frustration.

“This is putting the whole mission in jeopardy,” Vlasic urges.  “We have to get him back.”

“How?”  Torres finally says.  He’d been leaning against the far wall of the cockpit, lazily waiting for Vlasic and Niemi to solve their stowaway problem.

“We can’t afford the time, we have to get to the Gamma Sector in order to look like we’re actually doing our job,” Niemi useless clarifies.  Greiss is waiting nervously in the sleeping quarters, awaiting his fate.

“I could shoot him,” Torres says plainly.  Vlasic’s arm shoots out and grabs at Niemi’s chest, keeping him from attacking the massive engineer.

The sleeping quarters door slides open and Greiss comes running out.  Silently miming furiously.

“What is it?” Niemi says useless.

“Oh fuck!”  Vlasic swears.  “We’ve got company.”

Torres looks at the rear view screen.  “Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me.  Pirates?!”

-

“Why am I here?”  Gabe pleads as Bobby enters the next morning.

Bobby flushes nervously.  “I can’t talk about it.”

“I can tell you want to,” Gabe presses.

Bobby looks extremely guilty.  “Just...” he whines.  “Be careful.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”  Gabe puts on his best puppy dog eyes and it clearly works wonders on Bobby.

Bobby huffs before leaning and whispering into Gabe’s ear.  “Don’t drink the water.”

-

“MAJOR DAMAGE!”  Niemi shouts.  “LOSING POWER!”

“I’m working on it!”  Torres spits as he works switches, while also tinkering with the chords poking out of an exposed panel.

“They’re firing again!”  Vlasic warns.  The missiles hit and with a final lurch the ships goes black.  Emergency lights flicker before dimly lighting the cockpit.  Niemi motions for Greiss to hide.  Greiss gives him a dirty look, but does as he’s asked and he hides on the other side of the entrance of the transport ship.

The pirates dock their ship at the entrance and the three Saariaho crewmembers wait in formation, blasters raised and ready.  The door opens and a small metal ball rolls in.

Greiss watches in horror as the small grenade rolls towards the men who have no way of reacting.  However instead of exploding it just sits on the floor of the cockpit.  Greiss watches as the three men drop their guns and press their hands to their ears before all three blackout on the metal grating floor.

Greiss understands and knows that the future of the crew falls on him now.

Two armed pirates enter slowly, and Greiss pulls himself up into the compartment he’d stowed away in.  The pirate click the small metal ball and one clips it back onto his belt, but the three stay blacked out.  It’s obvious the intruders are having difficulty seeing in the dimly lit cabin, but Greiss has trained his eyes over the years.  He slowly lets himself down and pushes up against the wall, still out of sight of the pirates.

Greiss had to endure the same training regimen that every Icarus Fleet Recruit has to go through.  So his hand-to-hand combat skills are capable, in fact he’d been one of the best in his class.

Greiss peaks around the corner and formulates his plan.  With a deep breath he jumps out from behind the wall and kicks hard into the back of the first pirate.  The second turns quickly, but can’t get his aim on Greiss because he’s too close.  Greiss trips him but is pulled down by #2.

#2 throws Greiss against the metal flooring and the young recruit feels all the air in his lungs exhale at once.  He reacts quick enough to avoid a blaster shot.  He leaps up and knocks #2 down and holds him down with his knee on the man’s neck, prepared to crush it.  Believing he’s won he looks up and find that the #1 had gotten up and is aiming his gun at him.  He’s speaking too, but Greiss doesn’t waste his eyesight trying to read the lips.

Stunned and caught, Greiss is about to admit defeat, before an idea strikes him.  He holds his hands out in surrender.  The guard motions for him to stand.  So he places his hands on either side of #2’s waist and pushes himself up, however on the way up, he smacks that small grenade on #2’s belt and #1 crumples to the ground, incapacitated by the sound that Greiss can’t hear.

-

“These guys are all kinds of fucked up,” Fisher warns as he check his firepower.  They’d found an abandoned room to hide in before setting out again.

Semyon followed, keeping an eye out behind them.  The siren had been silenced, but he knew that they hadn’t stopped searching.  Fisher quickly disposes of two unsuspecting guards and steals a keycard from them.

“Let’s get some reinforcements,” Fisher grins as he opens a door.  After a short while searching, Fisher finds three men from the penal colony... two young guards, Jones and Forsberg and one young inmate, MacKinnon.

“Varly!”  MacKinnon looks relieved to not be joining a group of just guards.  Semyon hands over one of his rifles. 

“Fisher,” a voice says from down the hall.

“Weber!”  Fisher delights.  “Am I glad to see you!”

In tow with Weber is McGinn, both men armed. 

“They’ve trapped us in this wing of the facility,” Weber warns. 

“What?”  Fisher’s joy deflates.

“We’re trapped.”

-

Greiss shuts off the ear piercer.  With both the pirates and his own crew incapacitated and the ship a useless hunk of metal floating in space, Greiss makes a split-second decision.  He unhooks #1’s belt and wraps it around his own waist.  He takes stock.  Two IF grenades, no doubt looted from another Icarus Fleet ship they attacked.  He has both of the guns carried by the pirates.  Standard blaster rifles are easy for Greiss.  Finally he pockets the ear piercer.

He leans down in front of Niemi, his new weapons belt clinking with the movement.  He takes a moment to stare at the man’s blank and relaxed expression.  It looks good on him and inside his chest, Greiss can feel that tug that only Antti manages to cause.  He smacks the young man’s face hard twice.  Antti lunges awake, but obviously groggy.

Greiss points to the two pirates.  Before Antti can respond Greiss stands walks through the still open connecting port between their transport ship and the pirate ship.  He sees Antti jump up and try to stop him, but Greiss slams his palm against the pirate ship’s control panel, making it impossible for them to follow.

He turns to survey the foreign ship.  Greiss assumes that the pirate ship must have a small crew; it’d been his experience that pirates traveled in smaller packs.  By the size of this particular ship, Greiss approximated twelve crewmembers.  

Greiss has to be careful knowing that they can hear him and he won’t hear them coming.  He keeps his head on a swivel, pressing his body up against the wall and sliding along slowly.  He comes a corner and sees a single pirate standing down the hall, a blaster rifle wrapped around his chest and flung over his back.  He’s not facing Greiss and Greiss is thankful for small miracles.  He stealthy jets down the hall and wraps his hand around the young man’s mouth before he can react.

Greiss can feel the man’s muffled cries against his palm, but he holds firm and hopes the sound isn’t too loud.  He pulls the man and throws him against the wall, allowing a closer look while simultaneously pressing a blaster rifle into the man’s abdomen to keep the man from struggling.

Greiss almost lets go of the man when he sees who it is.

Brandon Anderson.

Brandon looks terrified at the gun before meeting Greiss’s eyes.  He can see the recognition.  Greiss looks around, there’s still no one in the hallway.  Greiss holsters the gun and puts a finger to his lips, trusting that he and Brandon’s history will count for something.  He slowly pulls his hand away from the still nervous man’s mouth.  His lips are pressed into a tight line and his face is flamed red with embarrassment at being caught by the enemy, a deaf one no less.

Greiss quickly steps back and sees to his horror that Brandon has a communicator on his wrist.  His hand is pressed over the talk function and he’s slightly tapping it.  Greiss hadn’t noticed the movement.  But now whoever was on the other end of that comlink was likely receiving Morse Code.

Greiss grabs at the Brandon’s throat hard and whirls around, holding the pirate hostage with a blaster to his head while the hall fills with seven men.

Greiss watches in horror as his worse fears are confirmed.  Having seen Brandon Anderson, Greiss had to assume that his dark past wouldn’t be far behind.  Greiss can’t believe he thought he could avoid Philipp Grubauer for the rest of his life.

_Hello Thomas_ , Grubauer in the center of the group of seven men says.  Greiss can read this man’s lips better than most. 

Greiss purses his lips.  He can’t speak and the man knows it.

_This is silly_ , Grubauer signs his words a smug grin on his square face.  _Come on brother_...

Greiss tightens his grip on Brandon’s throat and presses the blaster rifle harder into the man’s temple.  He doesn’t want Grubauer to call him “brother”.

Grubauer’s grin doesn’t fade.  Greiss definitely does not mistranslate Grubauer’s next words... _Kill him_.

-

Hours later the door to Gabe’s cell opens.  Instead of the usual timid yet cheerful Bobby, a man in long black and gold robes glides into the room. 

“Come with me, Landeskog,” the man orders, his voice heavily accented.

“Where’s Bobby?”  Gabe steps back from the unknown man.  He’s gilled like Bobby, but he’s not the screamer from his vision.

“I said,” the man says with a deep and annoyed breath, “come with me!”

“No,” Gabe spits.

The man reaches into the front slit in his long robe and flourishes a massive blaster in one had, pointing it straight at Gabe’s eye.  “Now.”

Gabe’s lips purse as he steps out of the cell at gunpoint.  He walks with the man down an endless maze of corridors before exiting into a huge chamber.  The walls are the same color as his cell, but there are no windows.  They are on a walkway suspended high above the chamber’s floor, which is covered with a huge group of men and women, arranged like soldiers in perfect rows at attention.

“What is this place?”  Gabe asks useless.  The man doesn’t reply... he just presses the gun into Gabe’s back and pushes him forward.  The people below are not moving; it’s eerie to Gabe.

Once across the large chamber and through a few more long corridors, the two men finally reach a large throne room.  Gabe can’t help but stare in awe at the gigantic windows flanking the throne room.  The oceanscape is beautiful and breathtaking, even with a gun pointed at his back.

Gabe slowly approaches the center of the room.  At the other end is a large round table with one large throne and several small seats situated around it.  A small gathering of men and women stand in front of the table quietly looking at the floor or at the man standing in the center.  He has his back to Gabe as he looks at something on the table.  Gabe assumes the empty throne belongs to him.  All of them are dressed in a similar fashion as the man that’d retrieved Gabe, but the leader has much more gold trimming.

“Gabriel Landeskog,” the man says simply as he stands up straight, layering his spine one by one in a slow and tense show of power.  Gabe swallows nervously... he knows that voice.

“How do you know who I am?”  Gabe grunts.

Two men enter behind Gabe and walk swiftly past him.  Gabe nearly screams when he sees one of the men.  Craig Anderson.

“Craig?”  Gabe says aloud.  The man doesn’t acknowledge him and Gabe has to wonder if he’d been wrong.  The man had died years ago.  He’d been one of the many jumpers at the Weakest Wall, choosing suicide over a life at the Penal Colony.

The two men reach the leader and stand at attention.  The leader turns and Gabe feels his stomach drop.  It’s the screamer from his vision.

“I know a lot about you, Gabe,” the leader sneers and Gabe has to fight the urge to run and punch the man for using his Semyon’s name for him.  “I am Getzlaf and I have been waiting for you to find your way down here.  Truly fortuitous moment for us.”

“What are you talking about?”  Gabe huffs, seemingly defeated by the lack of information and total confusion.

“You see, Gabe,” Getzlaf says stepping up to the two men who’d entered.  He puts his hand on the shoulder of Craig, at least of the guy Gabe thought was Craig.  “This civilization lived peacefully for many years.  Until one day there was a disturbance at the surface of the planet.  Do you know what that disturbance was?”

Gabe shakes his head slightly.

“It was Earthlings,” Getzlaf chuckles sadly.  “They’d assumed this planet was uninhabited.  Stupid creature you Earthlings are.  So we stayed hidden.  We waited and we watched as the built a fortress to house all the miscreants and violent killers of your planet.  Your outcasts.  What simpletons you are.  You see you relegate your prisoners to some far off planet, while we on the other hand are more frugal.” 

Getzlaf grabs the other man and turns him around.  The man, dressed in a red suit, similar to the battle garb worn by IF Marines.  The man’s eyes are a bright blue, unnatural and unnerving.  “This is Spezza.  He was a violent terrorist.  He killed my family and he tried to kill me.  He was a traitor and a murderer.”

“Was?”  Gabe questions.

“Was,” Getzlaf nods.  “You see we developed a serum years ago.  When a criminal such as Spezza is given proper dosages over time he looses his free will and desire for self-preservation.  He replaces those with loyalty and determination.  He becomes a soldier for the Tallis people.  He becomes what we call a Centurion.”

Gabe swallows nervously, thinking of the chamber he’d walked over full of men and women like Spezza.

“Our Centurions are unrivaled.  They are full of all the violent criminals of our society.  Transformed from monsters to soldiers to fight to the death to protect the good people of Tallis,” Getzlaf’s words have begun to make Gabe even more nervous.  “Then you Earthlings started filling that fortress above with the same kind of men that we filled our army with.  The most magical thing happened.  Men began to jump.”

Gabe felt the breath leave him in one exhale as Getzlaf turned the other soldier.  It was Craig Anderson.  The first person Gabe had known personally that had chosen to jump instead of live out his sentence.

“We spared the drowning men.  We took them, dosed them, and let them join our army,” Getzlaf smiles.

Gabe felt himself fuming at Getzlaf’s false sense of heroism at forcing these men to join his army.

“There is a war coming, Gabe.  I mean just now in the space above this planet two ships are locked in battle,” Getzlaf sobers.  “Perhaps being in the prison you missed the changing tides.  This war will be unlike anything the universe has seen before.  It will be so catastrophic that even our lonely ocean civilization is in danger.  Instead of sitting back and awaiting destruction, we’ve decided to join the battle and protect our way of life.”

“What war?”  Gabe says exasperated.

“It’s a small altercation in the Auron system.  The Rogue Empire and Icarus Fleet.  Your two puny civilizations created a rift in the universe that is swallowing every planet and civilization into the war for dominance.  We’ve chosen our side and we are going to battle.  It seems your Penal Colony is a casualty already.

“Trinity be with us,” Getzlaf presses a thumb to his forehead, a symbol of piety to the Trinity, the single largest religion in the universe.  “We have been rewarded for our service already.”

“What do you mean?”  Gabe says flustered. 

“Why the destruction of the prison of course,” Getzlaf laughs.  “It has provided us with a number of willing subjects for our army.”

“NO!”  Gabe screams.  “You can’t!”

Getzlaf smiles.  “I already have.”

-

Greiss weighs his options in the split second that it takes for his attackers to aim their blasters.  His hand grabs at his pocket containing the ear piercer.  Instantly the men fall to the ground, covering their ears in a desperate attempt to silence the sound Greiss can’t hear.  Eventually they each blackout, like Greiss’s fellow men had... all but Grubauer, who is standing amid the sea of unconscious bodies. 

Grubauer’s grin widens as he tilts his head to one side and points at a small object lodged in his ear.  _I don’t send in a weapon that I can’t defend myself from_.  His eyes speak volumes, _you trained me better than that._

He had and he hates himself for that.

Greiss had tried to leave his past behind.  But life had a funny way of swinging back around.

-

“You can’t do this!”  Gabe shouts hysterically.

“I can’t?”  Getzlaf takes a stuttering breath.  The room seems perched on hysteria.  “I CAN’T?!”  Getzlaf explodes.  “Let me tell you something!  This universe is damned.  The worlds are never... NEVER going live harmoniously!”  Getzlaf grab’s Craig’s shoulder and shakes him.  The brainwashed super-soldier doesn’t respond.  He just stands resolutely still, staring forward into nothingness.  “These blue eyes are a gift,” Getzlaf’s voice has dropped in dynamics but it can’t be described as calmed.  “They are a gift to a once peaceful nation.  They are our way of surviving this catastrophe without having to risk our lives and chance our everlasting spirits with the Trinity.”

Gabe fights to roll his eyes at the mentioning of this religious nutjob’s pious quest.  “By making them do your dirty work?  What about their everlasting spirits?”

“Oh Gabe,” Getzlaf chuckles.  “Don’t forget you’re one of these too.  I know about your past.  We... do our homework.  I know what you did to your family.  Torture, murder... you’re a sick person and you’ve already relinquished the opportunity for your everlasting spirit to be blessed.”

Gabe fights his retort.  His denial.  Every time it feels like bile rising up that he has to swallow to keep the truth a secret.

“But unfortunately we have different plans for you,” Getzlaf’s voice takes an icy tone.  “Our methods haven’t worked on you.  You haven’t succumbed like the others.”

Gabe only stopped drinking the water this morning.  He can’t imagine that’s what Getzlaf is talking about.

“I lost my wife.  I lost my children.  The only thing I had was a comforting voice.  A man who kept me from disintegrating.”  Getzlaf actually has tears welling up in his eyes, some spit pooling in his lips as his emotions well over.  “One man who took care of me and brought me back from the edge.  A man who has made me the leader I am today.”

The door opens behind Gabe and he fights the urge to look.  Bobby walks past, his head hanging low.  Another robed man leading him in, though he doesn’t need a gun to do it.

“And you tried to take that away from me,” Getzlaf whimpers.  “You brainwashed him into helping you.”

“No,” Gabe tries to interrupt to protect Bobby.

“SHUT UP!”  Getzlaf flies off the handle again.  “JUST SHUT UP!”

The room is silent apart from the lingering echo of Getzlaf’s screams in Gabe’s ear.

Getzlaf grabs a gun and presses it into Bobby’s hand.  Bobby looks like he wants to vomit, like the gun in his hand is going to bite him.

“I will not have you take my love from me.  I can’t lose another,” Getzlaf shakes his head.  “The only way to make this right is for him to shoot you.”

-

“Shoot him!”  Getzlaf screams.  Bobby is staring at the gun.  He feels like his body is acting without his mind’s consent.  The gun is aimed at Gabe’s head, shaking in Bobby’s grasp.  “I said shoot him!”

 “What the fuck?”  Gabe says as Bobby’s fingers fire the gun for him.  He’d dropped his aim and hit Gabe in the chest.  Something had happened.  In that moment the Gabe that had been present in the throne room had left.  His nervous and sick expression replaced with complete and utter confusion just seconds before Bobby fired at his chest, sending him to the ground.

Teemu, who’d lead Gabe in from his cell, leans down to check the body.  Getzlaf grabs the gun from Bobby’s shaking hands.  “Thank you my love.”

Bobby can’t make eye contact with the man.

“I needed to know that you were still loyal,” Getzlaf responds as if that’s enough of an explanation.

“He’s still alive,” Teemu reports.

Bobby sighs a shaking breath of relief.  He didn’t kill him...

“Take him to his cell,” Getzlaf orders Teemu.  “Double his dosage.  He will be a Centurion.”

-

_Thomas Greiss felt a hard push on his shoulder.  He whirled around from the misshapen plastic Icarus Fleet toy soldiers.  The kid, younger than him, looked annoyed.  Like Thomas had offended him personally.  One of the other orphans, Semyon, sauntered up and said something to the offended kid.  He couldn’t catch the movement of the lips perfectly, but he did see one word he was used to seeing._ Deaf _.  The other orphans never made much of an attempt to connect with Thomas because of it._

_The offended kid lost the offended expression, but instead of replacing it with one of pity, he just shrugged and folded his legs under his body and picked up one of the fleet commanders, the one that was missing its arm._ I’m Philipp _, he said facing Thomas.  Thomas nodded and picked up his own soldier to commence a pretend battle_.

Grubauer attacks first.  Greiss is surprised, considering their history, he would’ve thought that they’d have stood for hours waiting for initiation.  Grubauer lunges with his fists, which Greiss manages to dodge easily, while backing up, careful not to trip on Brian’s unconscious body that had fallen at his feet.

Greiss can see the blending of his own fighting instruction and the new skills Grubauer had picked up with his pirate crew.  It’s impressive to see his protégé at the command of a ship in this particular pirate clan, even if it is just a small frigate. 

_Philipp fell to the ground hard.  He rolled on the dirt, clutching his chest and waiting for his breath to return.  Thomas grinned and held out a helping hand.  Their sparring bordered on dangerous, which helped both hone their fighting skills greatly.  Philipp muttered some curse while taking the hand, but Thomas couldn’t read what he said._

Too slow, brother, _Thomas signed.  Philipp flicked off his good friend.  As Philipp dusted himself off, Semyon approached and started talking to Philipp. Thomas and Philipp had become best friends since meeting ten years ago and playing with toy soldiers, however Philipp maintained friendships with the other orphans too.  Most of who never cared to associate with Thomas.  Signing was the perfect way for Philipp to hide his conversations with Thomas.  Most of the others didn’t care for Thomas and actively teased him.  Philipp never did anything to stop it, but he at least offered a shoulder when it got to be too much._

Have to go, _Philipp signed._ I will get you later, brother.  _Thomas watched as Philipp laughed about something, his arm wrapped tightly around Semyon as they walked off._

Greiss flails, pulling back.  Both men are bleeding and exhausted.  Greiss had the upper hand, but was too tired to keep it.  Instead he pulls back and frees a blaster, aiming it at his old comrade.  He can’t sign one-handed.  So he just lets the gun do the talking.

Grubauer looks up from his dejected position on his knees.  _This is your fault_ , he says, obviously not wanting his signing to be misconstrued as reaching for a firearm.  _Why Thomas?_

Greiss has to fight the urge to shut his eyes in pain at the defeated man.  It aches him to see the younger man disgraced at his feet.  He clicks off the ear piercer. 

_Fire was everywhere.  It was an attack that no one had seen coming.  Not even the attackers.  They’d thought it was an uninhabited planet, when in fact the small community that had been established there had long since pledged allegiance to the growing pirate fleet.  It was a place for young children of pirates to be raised and primed for service._

_The brand new Icarus Fleet ship the USS Saariaho had descended and attacked, destroying the community’s small defenses and rendering it vulnerable to a complete takeover.  They’d managed to load the orphans on a small skiff that would meet a pirate ship in a holding pattern above the planet’s atmosphere._

Come Thomas, _Philipp signed._ These are our family.  We belong with them.

_Thomas looked around, some suit still dark and warm on his cheeks.  He didn’t feel he had a family.  All he saw looking at the unclaimed sons of pirate captains and officers was a group of cold, loveless boys that held no honor.  Thomas blinked away a tear.  Philipp was his little brother.  Philipp was the only thing Thomas loved.  But he knew... they both knew, that a pirate’s life was not Thomas’s future.  Icarus Fleet had landed, they’d attacked.  They’d give him a second chance._

_Thomas shook his head and held his ground.  Semyon angrily shut the skiff’s door with a punch while saying something Thomas couldn’t read. Through a small window at the back of the skiff, Thomas watched as Philipp and the rest of the boys took off into space, navigating through some debris and fire, into space and on to new things and their space-bound future._

_Thomas felt a man grab him from behind.  He had kind eyes that made Thomas feel at ease.  His chest read_ NABOKOV _and he seemed to be saying soothing things.  Thomas couldn’t read his lips through the blur of his tears.  The young Icarus Fleet Ensign held Thomas in his arms while the rest of the crew raided the facility for other survivors.  There wouldn’t be any._

You’re going to be okay, _the man said to Thomas.  Thomas hoped he was right._

-

“Not crazy!”  Semyon shouts.  His hold of the English language slipping with his hysteria.

MacKinnon kicks the ground nervously while the others in the party stare at Semyon like he’s lost his mind.

“McLeod, he was... there was doctor... and a needle,” Semyon flails at the empty bed.  They’d used the keycard to enter the room Semyon had seen McLeod in moments earlier.

The group of men stares at Semyon awkwardly.  It seems the only thing necessary to band prisoners and guards together is their nerves about the unhinged Russian. 

“There’s a computer,” MacKinnon points to the far corner of the room, shifting the focus of the group.

“And?”  Jones questions.

“And I was arrested for a particularly bad network hack that resulted in... Well let’s just say it wasn’t good,” MacKinnon smiles and it’s unsettling.

“You think you can break into it?”  Fisher asks as the group of men crowds the computer station.

Semyon falls back against the wall, rubbing his eyes with his palms swearing under his breath that he isn’t crazy.

Movement to his right snaps him out of his daze.  It’s McLeod and he’s just standing inside the doorway, staring at the group of men.  He hasn’t seen Semyon and the men haven’t seen McLeod.

That is until MacKinnon turns and brightens, “McLeod!” But immediate sobers and steps back.  Semyon doesn’t understand why MacKinnon reacted like that, but he notices clutched behind McLeod’s back is a large syringe.  Before Semyon can react McLeod lunges at the closest person, Jones, and shoves the syringe in his neck, causing him to fall to the ground.  MacKinnon and McGinn try and stop their friend, but a blaster fires and McLeod falls to the ground, lifeless.

“What the fuck was that for?” MacKinnon yells at Weber who stands stoic, with his blaster still aimed and hot from the discharge. “He was our friend!”

“Yeah?”  Weber grunts.  “He killed my friend.”

However just as Weber says that, Jones starts to stand.  Semyon finally sees what the others had, Jones’s eyes, like the dead McLeod’s are bright blue.  Before any of the men can react, Jones sprints from the room.

“We need to act fast!”  Fisher says.

“There are ships!”  MacKinnon shouts.  “Just outside of the planet!  Two of them.”

“What are their ID Numbers?”  Weber presses.

“One is USS-94685,” MacKinnon reads, “I don’t know it but it’s Icarus Fleet.  The other is...”

“What?”

“I don’t know what that is...” MacKinnon points to the foreign ID number.

Semyon steps up to the group of men.  “I know,” he says calmly.  “They come for me.”

-

Torres and Niemi came aboard to quickly help Greiss manage the pirate ship.  They’d wanted to disable their ship, but Greiss had put up a fight.  They’d just split off from each other.  Neither Niemi nor Torres seemed too keen on trusting a pirate’s word.

Niemi heard the control panel of the pirate ship chirp and come to life.  None of the pirates had awoken from the effects of the ear piercer, but Grubauer is still conscious.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Niemi warns as he allows Grubauer to hail the call from the prison planet.

“Grubauer!”  A Russian voice calls on the screen, a group of men standing behind him.

“Semyon,” Grubauer sighs. “Thank God.”

“Later,” Semyon jokes.  “Six of us on this planet.  Need help.”

“We can transport you out.  We just need coordinates.”

“No coordinates,” Semyon shakes his head.  “We are at bottom of ocean.”

Grubauer grins, “Is no problem.  You think a little water stop me?”

“Guards and prisoners both need help,” Semyon warns.

Grubauer looks up at Niemi.  Niemi nods, “We’ll take the guards.”  Niemi doesn’t want to think about what Grubauer and his band of pirates would do to United Earth Prison Guards.

“I pinged you the location,” MacKinnon says, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

Niemi and Grubauer nod at the transmission.

-

“Hi Gabriel.”

Gabe lashes around.  The bright room is unnaturally white and glowing.  A woman stands in front of him.

“We don’t have much time,” she says.  “You’re having a vision.  Like the ones you had before.”

“How do you know about that?”  Gabe feels his stomach clench with nerves.

She waves off his question.  “Find me at 6.89 by 457.23 and 14.721... in the Gamma Sector.  You’ll have your answer.”

-

“Wake up!  Please wake up!”  Bobby hisses in a hushed whisper while shaking the slumbering Gabe.

Gabe coughs and sputters into consciousness.

“Thank Trinity, you’re eyes,” Bobby gasps.

“Bobby?” Gabe manages.  “My eyes?”

“Not now,” Bobby lifts the larger man up from the bed. “We need to get you out of here.  Your dosage didn’t work.  Your eyes, they’re still normal.  That’s never happened.  I overheard Getzlaf yelling about it.”

Gabe huffs a laugh as Bobby supports him, quickly hobbling across the cell and out into the hallway.  Gabe nearly stumbles over two guards passed out next to his door.  He turns and raises an eyebrow at Bobby.

“I had to get you out of here,” Bobby says as an answer.

“You shot me,” Gabe teases.

“I’m so sorry,” Bobby blushes.  “I’m going to get you to your friends.”

“My friends?” Gabe sounds hopeful.

“A few of the prisoners broke out and took over a section of the compound.  Our security is... lacking.  We kind of depend on the whole underwater thing a bit too much if you ask me.  We never had trouble converting a few of you at a time, but trying to capture and convert all of you at once was too much for Getzlaf.”

“Why are you helping me?” Gabe asks as they pass through a double set of doors.  The path back to the section he’d come from before looks more and more familiar.

“I love Getzlaf,” Bobby says sadly.  “I love him but he... he’s allowed this to go too far.  I got wrapped up in it and only now do I see how wrong it is.”

A door opens to a curving hallway.  Voice emanate from a room just around the bend.

“Semyon!”  Gabe shouts as Bobby and step into the room.

Semyon’s face brightens. Gabe hobbles over quickly, ignoring the burning pain.  The two men embrace in the center of the room. 

After a moment the two pull back.  The room is too silent. Gabe turns to see Bobby staring back at him in shock. 

“Bobby?” Gabe says weakly.

Bobby’s hand reaches up behind him to grab at something on the back of his neck.  He pulls out a syringe, staring at it in horror.  His terrified stare turns blue and the expression and emotion drains from his face. He steps to the side and Getzlaf and Teemu stand in front of them.

“Bobby?!” Gabe shouts.

“Too late,” Getzlaf grins.

“How could you do that?!” Gabe sputters.  “He loved you!”

“He was weak,” Getzlaf replies.

“In position!” A static voice from the computer calls out.  MacKinnon slams the board.  “Seven of us!”

Weber fires his blaster, forcing Teemu, Getzlaf, and the newly converted Bobby to retreat from the room.

“Seven signatures,” the voice reiterates. “Got it.”

Gabe feels his body tingle before white light envelopes him and the rest of the men in the room.  A loud _POP_ sounds and in an instant the seven men find themselves on a small transport ship floating in the ocean above the underwater civilization.

“Is good no?”  Grubauer grins, his hand ruffling the hair of the young Brandon Anderson.  “He’s a pro.”

Semyon shakes hands with his old friend.

“Take us out Brandon,” Grubauer orders.

“Yes sir!”

-

Vlasic’s head is still pounding from the aftereffects of the ear piercer.  The two ships are flying-capable again after a few hours of maintenance.  Greiss and Torres elected to stay on their ship while Vlasic awaits the return of the rescue mission.  The room feels like a Mexican standoff.  Each man poised and ready to fight.  Vlasic has to laugh internally at the fact that Greiss had taken down all these men by himself.

The rescue ship docks below the pirate ship.  A stream of men pours out from the ground looking exhausted and weary.

“Are you the Icarus Fleet officer?”  One of the men says. 

Vlasic nods.  From his dress it wouldn’t be hard to assume that.

“My name’s Weber,” the man shakes his hand.  “This is Fisher and Forsberg.  We were guards on Tallis.  It’s my understanding that you’re going to take us back?”

“There’s a guard station near the Gamma Sector.  They’ll have a transport ship ready and waiting for you guys,” Vlasic nods.  “We can’t afford to take you all the way back ourselves, because we need to head further into the Gamma Sector.”

“The Gamma Sector?” Another man jumps in, interrupting Vlasic. He looks the most exhausted, his blonde hair an unruly mess and his eyes clouded with exhaustion and emotion.

Vlasic nods slowly.

“Take me with you, into the Gamma Sector,” the man pleads.  “You can just drop me off somewhere that can get me the rest of the way.”

Vlasic nods again.  “Okay.”  He can’t help but imagine the reaction this will get out of Torres.  Agreeing to transport a vicious murderer deeper into the Gamma Sector.

“Gabe?”  Semyon questions.  “You’re going with them?”

-

Gabe turns to Semyon.  He nods without an explanation.

“But what about...”

Gabe pulls Semyon towards him, pressing his lips hard against the other man.  “I’m so sorry, Semyon.  I love you so much.  I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you that before.”

Semyon nods silently.

“But I have to go there, I can’t explain why.”

“Then I’m going with you,” Semyon’s grip on Gabe’s arm tightens.  “I’m with you until the end.”

Gabe smiles warmly, “I have to do this alone.”

Semyon’s eyes water at the admission.

“But as soon as I find the answers I need, I will find you,” Gabe promises.

Semyon nods again.

“I swear to you Semyon.  I love you more than anything and I will return.”

“I love you,” Semyon replies weakly.  He pulls Gabe into a tight hug.

Gabe rests his head in Semyon’s shoulder and worries about his future.  He worries about not being able to see Semyon again.  He has to say the one last thing that’s been on his mind.

“I didn’t do it,” Gabe whispers hoarsely.  “I didn’t kill my family.”

Semyon pulls away from the hug to look into Gabe’s eyes.

“It was my sister,” Gabe says, his throat closing up at the admission he’d never said aloud.  “I didn’t want everyone to know that she’d done it.  So I took the blame.”

Semyon pulls him into a hug again.  Gabe relishes the touch praying that he’ll be able to feel it again soon.

-

“Your ship is good as new sir,” a young engineer says.

Niemi salutes the younger soldier. “Thank you, private.”

“Yes sir!”

Gabe walks past Niemi, muttering coordinates he’d been obsessing over.  “6.89 by 457.23 and 14.721,” he says under his breath.  Niemi had looked up the coordinates after listening to Gabe repeat the numbers for an hour.  There was nothing there.  Just empty space.  But they only had to carry him as far as a neutral outpost.

They’d landed on the small Icarus Fleet outpost two days prior and seen the prison guards off on a small transport ship back to Earth.

Gabe and Greiss had both elected to stay with Torres only agreeing once the two promised they’d never sleep in his bed.

“We have orders,” Torres says from behind Niemi.  Vlasic and Greiss walk up too, smiling at something Vlasic has sighned.

“You know sign language?”  Niemi questions.

Vlasic nods.  Niemi fights the bloom of jealousy at that.  He hates that Vlasic can make Greiss smile and laugh.  But he presses down the feeling of jealousy directed at his friend to instead focus on the new orders Torres had handed him.  They plug in the stick to a video screen on the ship.

“Niemi, Torres, and Vlasic,” Captain Thornton says resolutely, decked out in her teal captain’s uniform.  “As you’ve no doubt already realized, Greiss stowed away on your ship.”  She pauses to sigh at that, but her lips quirk ever so slightly and Niemi knows that she must be hiding a bit of amusement at the fact.

“It’s too late for you to return him, so you’ll just have to make due.  I have a new set of official orders.  The USS Nelson has passed into the Gamma Sector and we’ve been order to cease following the ship.  However these new orders are straight from the President.  He delivered them to me personally.  You are to fly the transport ship into the Gamma Sector.  Find coordinates 6.89 by 457.23 and 14.721.  Once there you will be briefed by an unidentified source on your orders.  Godspeed.”

The transmission ends and Niemi stares at the blank screen in dumbfounded shock.

“Fuck,” Torres mutters, rubbing his hand over his face in exhaustion. Obviously the thought of flying into Gamma Sector space is daunting, especially in such an ill equipped ship. 

“Gabe!” Niemi calls out.  “What are those coordinates you’ve been saying?”

“6.89 by 457.23 and 14.721,” Gabe replies tentatively.

“How is that possible?” Vlasic gasps.

Niemi pulls up the loading ramp and preps the ship for takeoff.  “It seems we’re going to the same place.  Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

 

_To be continued..._

**Author's Note:**

> There's a part three to this one and then the clock resets ONCE more. Obviously it's taken me a while to get through all this, so who's to say when I'll finish this all. I have an overall map and the ending is actually being written as I go. Haha. So the plan for right now is one more in the Apocalyptic Dreams series. One fic that starts this time over again in a different part of the galaxy. And the one big one that follow each of these and meshes EVERYTHING together. Then an epilogue fic to tie everything up!


End file.
